1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a female terminal wherein a tabular terminal can be laterally or obliquely inserted between a pair of elastic holding pieces thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A relay box with a fuse is provided in an electric wiring for various electric appliances aboard a vehicle for protecting the circuit. Here, the relay box is called a fuse box, a junction block or an electric junction box. As one of the fuses to be mounted on a fuse accommodating portion of the relay box, a blade-type fuse is known. The blade-type fuse has a pair of tabular terminals which are connected with a soluble portion in an insulative housing. This blade-type fuse is inserted into in the fuse accommodating portion of the relay box. Each of two tabular terminals is inserted between a pair of elastic contact pieces of the female terminal accommodated in the relay box.
The female terminal has a terminal body 40, a wire connecting portion 41 to crimp an electric wire (not shown), and a terminal contact portion 43 as shown in FIG.6. The terminal contact portion 43 has a pair of elastic holding pieces 42. The elastic holding piece 42 is formed of a rectangular plate. The pair of elastic holding pieces 42 are put into contact with each other near front end portions thereof. Each elastic holding piece 42 has a guide portion 44 between the front end and the contact portion. That is, the vicinity of the front end portion of each elastic holding piece 42 is in an L-shape. A front end portion of a tabular terminal 2 is inserted between the guide portions 44. The tabular terminal 2 is inserted deep, and the female terminal 45 is electrically connected to the tabular terminal 2. The fuse 3 is inserted in the fuse accommodating portion. When the tabular terminal 2 of the fuse 3 is inserted into the female terminal, a longitudinal axis al of the tabular terminal 2 is normally almost in parallel with a longitudinal axis b of the female terminal as shown in FIG.7. A width direction of the tabular terminal 2 and a width direction of the elastic holding piece 42 are substantially parallel.
However, as shown in FIG. 8, the fuse 3 is sometimes laterally or obliquely inserted in the fuse accommodating portion. At this time, as shown in FIG. 9, a side face 2c of the tabular terminal 2 abuts front-end side faces of the elastic holding pieces 42. In this case, the tabular terminal 2 is not inserted between the elastic holding pieces 42. If the fuse 3 is forcibly inserted, the tabular terminal 2 is damaged.